As we prepare to leave for eight days in Cuba starting tomorrow, we are binging a bit on vegetables and salads, which may not be the healthiest things for us to eat there. You will also notice a reprise of recent dishes we enjoyed.

Yesterday’s lunch featured one of the fresh beet salads of which I have become quite fond. The key tool is this julienne device, purchased at a cookware store in Portsmouth, NH, several years ago:

It makes a lovely small julienne of any vegetable with a little substance. For yesterday’s lunch, it was applied to one small raw beet and one medium carrot (from Crooked Row Fields), and one watermelon radish from the Cambridge Farmers Market on Saturday. To that mix I added multiple micro-greens from the Union Square Greenmarket last week, chopped red onion, superb white beans from Italy, Turkish black olives and Sicilian Castelvetranos. Barely worth mentioning is also a bit of chopped Roma tomato from the top and bottom left by Barbara from a recent sandwich. This was dressed with a mustardy vinaigrette and served emblazoned in color.

As you can see, it was served with a small portion of leftover Spice-Rubbed Lemon Sole with a Lemon-Parsley sauce (made with olive oil, not butter), and the Rosemary-Ciabatta crostini topped with the Romagnoli’s Caponata. All was served with one of Alice Feiring’s latest selections, a 2010 Pecorino from Emidio Pepe.

Barbara did last night’s supper. It was a very good meal of spinach fettuccine with mixed wild mushrooms, baby spinach, and pan-roasted tofu cubes.

Tonight it was my turn again. I accommodated the request for polenta, preparing some and cooling it in an oiled ceramic dish, and baking it with tomato sauce and sliced mozzarella. This was accompanied by a plate of hash browned potatoes, and pan-grilled zucchini slices with balsamic vinegar and a salad of wild arugula and chopped endive. A few green olives and four thin slices of kick-ass pickled beet (lots of vinegar, salt and hot Thai chile peppers) completed the dish.

There was no debating the wine for this dinner. My choice was Terra Damia from Calabria (see previous post), already open, and it was superb. I wish I had more of it. Hopefully, I will rectify that situation soon.